Maternity ward, Government Center topics of meeting

PORT JERVIS — Michael Sussman, civil rights attorney and founder of the Democratic Alliance of Orange County, is preparing to address Port Jervis on two fronts at a community meeting from 2-4 p.m. Sunday at the Youth Recreation Center, 134 Pike St.

PORT JERVIS — Michael Sussman, civil rights attorney and founder of the Democratic Alliance of Orange County, is preparing to address Port Jervis on two fronts at a community meeting from 1-4 p.m. Sunday at the Youth Recreation Center, 134 Pike St.

For the first hour, the Bon Secours Community Hospital maternity ward will be the focus.

"Most important will be to make the point that Bon Secours remains a maternity center," he said. "I expect to hear parents say, 'They don't want us there.' Generally, the impression is the facility is closed. But Bon Secours has an obligation to carry on and serve the community. They are not the arbiters."

Community representatives who went to Albany March 9 to make the case to New York Department of Health officials will also report on that event.

For the second hour of the meeting, Sussman will be joined by experts to make his case that the Orange County Government Center in Goshen need not be replaced, its remains becoming landfill under a new building.

The center has been closed and locked since it was damaged by September storms. Leaders of construction groups have said long-term water leakage has left abundant mold and structural damage not worth repairing, but Sussman says the building should be investigated by a neutral party without an interest in replacing it.

He says access to investigating the condition of the building has been obstructed.

Edward Diana, county executive, says the building can be replaced for $75 million. On his website, he says, "The current economic situation also makes now the perfect time to build new. Orange County's Triple-A Bond Rating makes financing affordable. Interest rates are at a historic low. A construction project will put local residents to work, and a slow economy yields good construction costs."

However, Sussman said Diana underestimates the actual cost of rebuilding. He said he suspects storm damage may be providing a long-sought excuse to replace the building.

Sussman noted that the state has found the building eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, and in October 2011 the World Monument Fund added the Orange County Government Center to its watch list of threatened cultural heritage sites needing protection.

The late Paul Rudolph, a star architect of the 1960s and '70s and dean of the Yale School of Architecture, designed the building in an avant-garde style of the time called "brutalism." However, the Government Center began leaking four years after it was built. Sussman says the building has suffered from chronic neglect.

The experts Sussman has invited to present at the meeting include retired architect Harry Berg, construction contractor and County Legislator Matt Turnbull, historian and New York University professor Dick Hull, and economist Robert Fromaget.